"Physical, Chemical and Mechanical Analysis of a Reinforced Concrete Beam Corroded in Chloride Environment"

Abstract

A 17-yr-old reinforced concrete (RC) beam is studied. A cracking map due to corrosion was recorded, and a flexural test conducted to measure the residual mechanical behavior and load-bearing capacity of the beam. The degree of reinforcement corrosion was assessed by removing all the concrete surrounding the reinforcing bars, and the total chloride content in the vicinity of reinforcement was measured. The chloride content measure and the distribution of corrosion along the beam indicated that the prediction of corrosion initiation in RC members is highly dependent on the quality of the steel-concrete interface. By comparing the cracking map and the degree of corrosion of the beam, actual model reliability, predicting the degree of corrosion from cracks width, was checked. A comparison between the mechanical behavior and the degree of corrosion allowed a separation of the influence of steel section and bond loss on the decrease in the stiffness and load-bearing capacity of the beam. Comparisons with existing models were also conducted.